The Sound of America

There is not a single instrument in the United States that is as quintessentially American as the banjo is. This guitar like instrument has a round frame and either four, five or six strings. It originated in Africa, and was brought to the American Colonies with the arrival of African slaves from 1620 onwards. Soon the instrument could be heard during slave gatherings at plantations all along the Southern states of the US. 

Banjos were introduced to a wider non-black audience through Minstrel Shows. Minstrel Shows started in the 1830's. They were a ridiculous attempt to depict the lives of African American slaves who lived on plantations in the South. White actors painted their faces black and acted like dumb-witted slaves that did nothing all day but steel food, do silly things and play music on their banjo. One of the most popular songs that came from one of these Minstrel Show's was Stephen Foster's 1847 hit "Oh Susannah". The song was later covered by such greats as Neil Young, the Byrds, and James Taylor. 

Minstrel Shows were very popular from the 1830's until the late 1890's, and the banjo's popularity grew with it. Soon not only African slaves played the instrument, but many white Americans did too. The banjo could be heard in several musical styles from blues, to country and folk music, as it was played all throughout the US.

Earl Scruggs was born in 1924 in Carolina, and started started playing the banjo at a young age. He developed his own three finger picking style and in 1945 was discovered by the founder of Bluegrass music, Bill Monroe. Ever since Bill Monroe added Earl Scrugss to his band, the banjo became an indispensable part of Bluegrass music. Only three years later, Earl Scruggs and Lester Flatt left Monroe's Bluegrass Boys, to start their own band. The duo soon became quite popular and even landed a spot on the Grand Ole Opry. Below you can hear them at the Opry, performing one of their classics "Foggy Mountain Breakdown". 

In the 1950's the banjo again became an important part of folk music. It was reintroduced by Pete Seeger, the father of folk, who himself was an avid banjo player and wrote a popular book on "How to Play the 5-String Banjo". The book thought many young musicians at the time how to play this instrument, and the banjo soon found itself in another revival. Pete Seeger is 93 today, and he can still be heard playing his instrument in folk festivals all throughout the US. Below you can watch Seeger give a short history lesson on this beautiful instrument.  

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Folk Song Collectors

As a little girl my aunt taught me a beautiful German folk song. The song "Es waren zwei Koningskinder"  tells the tale of a prince and princess who wanted to be together, but both tragically died as they tried to swim towards each other on a large river.  It must have been about 25 years ago when my aunt taught me this song, but it stuck with me ever since.  

German Folk Song - "Es waren zwei Koningskinder" 

Despite its beauty, folk music seems to be something of the past and many folk songs have disappeared with time. Thankfully, John Lomax shared my love and appreciation for traditional folk music. During the 1930's and 40's he traveled extensively throughout the United States and recorded thousands of these hidden treasures. Lomax visited small towns in the Apalachian mountains to hear old British and Irish folk songs, and went to prisons in the South to discover black folk music. 

It was in one these prisons in the early 1930's that Lomax discovered Leadbelly, a black outlaw who had been in prison before and who was now charged with attempted homicide. It was said that thanks to Lomax, Leadbelly was able to leave prison earlier. Right after he was released from prison, the two of them traveled throughout the US to let Americans hear "negro music". In the video below you can see the real Lomax and Leadbelly and hear part of Leadbelly's most famous song "Goodnight Irene"  

John Lomax: Leadbelly - "Goodnight Irene" 

John's son Alan Lomax accompanied his father during many of his travels and decided at a young age that he would follow in his fathers footsteps. Alan Lomax not only traveled the US to find folk songs, but he also visited several European countries. He continued to collect folk songs until the 1980's, and eventually recorded many songs for the US Library of Congress. This year Alan Lomax's entire collection was made open to the public. On the website Cultural Equity  17,000 recordings collected by Alan and his father can be heard.  Let's hope that through this website, traditional folk music will never completely disappear.

Alan Lomax

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Some of Today's Best New Musicians (According To Me)

I have had little inspiration to write lately, but did listen to some great music. In this blog post I will present some of today's best musicians (according to me).  All of them use old music styles in a very modern way. Most of them have started performing only recently. I hope you like them as much as I do.  

Alabama Shakes - "Hold On" (USA)

Folka Dots - "Black Crow" (USA)

Caro Emerald - "That Man" (The Netherlands)

C.W. Stoneking - Jungle Lullaby (Australia)

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The Era of "The Artist"; a Soundtrack to the 1920's and 1930's

This weekend I finally saw "The Artist" and I loved it! "The Artist" depicts the disappearance of silent movies and the emergence of the first talking pictures during the 1920's and 1930's. "The Jazz Singer" which was released in 1927, was the first popular talking picture. Very soon all silent movies were considered to be too old fashioned, leaving musicians which accompanied these movies without a job. Movie Companies, however, were forced to rehire these musicians to make soundtracks, and thankfully music continued to be an important part of movies.

The roaring twenties was the decade of Prohibition (in which manufacturing, importing, exporting, selling and transporting alcohol was banned by law in the U.S.), the emergence of the phonograph and the first record studios, and of course the great crash of 1929. By the 1930's Big Bands headed by great musicians such as Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Tommy Dorsey were the talk of the town. It was also the decade in which The Grand Ole Opry was first broadcasted throughout the entire US, and Billboard published its first list to aid jukebox owners in their music choice.

The 1920's and 1930's also brought forward some of the greatest artists of the 20th century. We all still know and love Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong,  Jimmie Rodgers, Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Billie Holiday and of course the amazing Cole Porter. Here are some of my favorite songs from these two decades. All of these songs were used in movie soundtracks.

Bessie Smith - "St. Louis Blues" (1929)

Jimmie Rodgers - "Waiting for a Train" (1930)

Fred Astaire - "Dancing Cheeck to Cheeck" (1935)

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One of the Most Covered Songs in History

A few years ago the British newspaper The Indepedent published a list of the ten most covered songs in history:

1. Eleanor Rigby - The Beatles
2.Yesterday - The Beatles
3. Cry me a River -  Julie Londen
4. And I Love Her - The Beatles
5. (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction - The Rolling Stones
6. Imagine - John Lennon
7. Summertime - Abbie Mitchell
8. Blackbird - The Beatles
9. Over the Rainbow - Judy Garland
10. The Look of Love - Dusty Springfield

This blog post is about number 7 on this list: "Summertime". I have to admit I've never heard of Abbie Mitchell's version of "Summertime", nor had I ever heard of Abbie Mitchell before. But her rendition of the song is how Gershwin originally intented it to be, and it is indeed beautiful. In 1933 Gerswin wrote the opera Porgy and Bess and included the lullaby "Summertime". The character Clara sings this song at the start, and its melody can be heard several times throughout the opera. In 1935, when Porgy and Bess was first performed on stage, Abbie Mitchell played Clara's part. Mitchell recorded the first version of "Summertime", and 38,324 recordings of the song were made after Mitchell's version.

In 1936, Billie Holiday's cover of "Summertime" was the first that entered the American music charts. About two decades later, Ella Fitzgerald and Lois Armstrong also recorded an excellent rendition of the song. Their version became that popular, that most people actually think that Fitzgerald and Armstrong were the first who recorded this song.

Ella Fitzgerald and Lois Armstrong - "Summertime"

Since "Summertime" was recorded many times and by so many different people, it was done in an enormous variety of styles. Janis Joplin's version of the song is one of my favorites. She is one of few people who were able to add an extra dimension to an already beautiful song.

Janis Joplin - "Summertime"

I won't bother you here with all the 38,325 recorded covers of this song, but if you're interested check this website which lists them all. Miles Davis, Sam Cooke, Billy Stewart and Scarlett Johansson were among the many to record "Summertime"

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The Highest Paid Black Entertainer Of The 1920's

It is impossible to write about the essentials of music, without mentioning Bessie Smith. She died at the age of 43 in a car accident, but has left several wonderful songs for us to hear. Throughout the 1920's and 1930's she recorded a large number of "race records" (as they were called back then), and she became the highest paid black entertainer of her time.

Careless Love is my favorite Bessie Smith song. No one knows who wrote the song and at what exact time period, but many of the great artists have decided to add the song to their repertoire (Louis Armstrong, Odetta, and Ray Charles among others).

Whenever I listen to Bessie Smith I can't help but feel like I'm thrown right back to her era. As if I'm standing in a dark alley in some southern town in the US. A late summer evening, and her music playing from inside a house. I hope you'll enjoy this song as much as I do.

                                                         Bessie Smith - "Careless Love"

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Guess who??

This musical sensation was not only influenced by Blues legends such as Muddy Water, John Lee Hooker and Robert Johnson but also got a lot of inspiration from the 1960's folk music scene in which she gew up. 

She is the daughter of a famous musical star (Oklahoma!) and an accomplished pianist and singer. She grew up in Los Angeles, and studied Social Relations and African Studies at Harvard and Radcliff. 

She has sung with numerous famous singers: Pete Seegers, B.B. King, Willie Nelson, Alison Krauss, Norah Jones, Brian Adams and many many others. 

Her musical talent won her 9 grammy awards and commercial success from the 1970's onwards. She is now inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 

While she never had a number 1 position in the American music charts, she did sing a few very popular songs: "Thing Called Love", "I Can't Make You Love Me", "You", and my favorite version of John Prine's song "Angel From Montgomery". 

Here she is, in 1974, singing the song that touches my heart everytime I hear it. 

"Angel From Montgommery"

Big Mama Thornton vs. The King

Yesterday I have already talked about the King for a bit (the fact that he was a part of  The Million Dollar Quartet). Today I will give you some Rock and Roll and some Blues. In fact, it's two versions of the same number "Hound Dog". First sung by the King himself, but then the original version by Big Mama Thornton.

As Elvis Presley probably doesn't need any further introduction, I will just let you watch this amazing video of "Hound Dog24t !". Enjoy!

Elvis Presley - "Hound Dog"

I actually like the original version of this song better than Presley's rendition. It was recorded by Big Mama Thornton just a few years before the King did, in 1952. Although it was a fairly big hit when Mrs. Thornton selling neearly two milllion copies. I am really curious which version you like best. Let me know how you like this version of "Hound Dog"! 

Big Mama Thornton - "Hound Dog"

Little Girl Blue

As I said in my last blog, I have lots and lots of free time, so I can write whenever I want. As this will be a blog covering all kinds of music, I have decided to index my blogs, for you to be able to view something that you really like very quickly. When I started this blog I told you that I will be covering a great variety of music styles and that I won't limit myself to just one genre (as most blogs about music do). After giving it some more thought, however, I realized that my music preference is indeed also limited. I focus mainly on western music. Not that I am not interested in other types of music, it's just what I have been listening to most. This is not to say that in the future I won't show any African, Chinese, or Indian songs, just that my main focus will be on western music (that is American and European).

Janis Joplin. Many of you proably know her due to her famous Woodstock appearance all the way back in 1969. She is known for her Rock music, in which she blended a  whole lot of  blues. Some of her greatest hits included "Me and Bobby McGee", "Mercedes Benz", and "Down on Me". After singing solo for some time she joined Big Brother and the Holding Company from 1966-1968, and afterwards starting singing with backup group the Kozmic Blues Band from 1969 - 1970. After a short life full of sex, drugs and rock and roll, she overdosed on heroin in 1970 and died at the age of 27. Check out JanisJoplin.net to read all the interesting info there is about her life.

This next song is one of my favorites. It was originally written for the Broadway Musical Jumbo in 1935, but has been covered by a variety of artists throughout the years (including Nina Simone, Frank Sinatra and Linda Rondstadt). This recording was taped at the "This is Tom Jones Show", just a year before she died. I personally love listening to this version of "Little Girl Blue" with the volume all the way up. Her emotions are so raw, her voice so intense, and the song just simply beatiful. 

Janis Joplin - "Little Girl Blue"